Scorched-earth oddities edition

Eyedea And Abilities, By The Throat: I love how flexible E&A (hip-hop duo from Minneapolis) are, but I wasn’t expecting them to jump into raw, rock-based production and a such a rapid-fire album. It put me off at first but then I realized, this is what a lot of underground rap tries to accomplish, only they’ve basically just flayed it down to something more essential and less pretentious. Or just marched through it General Sherman-style.

Trap Them, Sleepwell Deconstructor: Huge, grotesque hardcore contortions. The very spiffy Ear Wax had it in a vinyl-digital package, which was about the same price as most CDs and had amazing album art depicting a torrential graphic rain of upside-down crosses. That’s how it should be. I also just realized I was playing this at the wrong speed. The fucked-up thing is, I enjoyed it both ways.

Clipd Beaks, To Realize: Reviewing this for A.V. Club so I’ll mostly save up for that… it’s definitely too long for me, but it’s slowly rewarding my patience. This time they sound less weird-noisy-post-punk and more like they’re trying to stretch off into their own version of psychedelia. Song titles like “Desert Highway Music” sort of tip the hand here…

Hellraiser and Hellraiser II: “IT IS NOT HANDS THAT CALL US… IT IS DESIRE!”

Local stand-ups at Comedy Club On State, Jan. 20: A pretty solid night of Madison comics. Recapped by Joel here.